San Antonio Hermann Sons Home Ass'n v. Harvey

256 S.W.2d 906, 1953 Tex. App. LEXIS 2297
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 25, 1953
Docket10099
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 256 S.W.2d 906 (San Antonio Hermann Sons Home Ass'n v. Harvey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
San Antonio Hermann Sons Home Ass'n v. Harvey, 256 S.W.2d 906, 1953 Tex. App. LEXIS 2297 (Tex. Ct. App. 1953).

Opinion

GRAY, Justice.

Lucille Harvey, a feme sole, recovered a judgment against San Antonio Hermann Sons Home Association, a fraternal corporation, for damages for personal injuries. She alleged her injuries were sustained when she overbalanced and fell down a ramp in defendant’s building in San Antonio.

In 1949, the defendant completed an addition to its building on South St. Mary’s Street in the City of San Antonio. On the street level of this addition there was a parking lot area and on the floor above that level the defendant had bowling alleys, a cafe and a bar, or at any rate served drinks there. In the basement of the *909 original building there was a social room, a rathskeller, pool' and card tables. The ramp in question was one of the ways commonly used by persons going to or from the bowling alley area. The ramp was indoors and led up from the first floor level to the floor where the bowling alleys, the cafe and the bar were located. Its length was 37 feet, 7.2 inches and it rose to a height of approximately 9 feet and 8 inches — the incline or slope was 26.79 per cent. The ceiling over the ramp sloped evenly and parallel with the ramp and there was a row of lights in the ceiling for lighting purposes. The ramp ran generally from the south to the north (rising to the north), it was divided into two aisles by a center handrail, and there was also a 'handrail on each side wall. In ascending the ramp the east aisle was generally used and in descending the west aisle was used. At the top of the ramp, or the second floor level, there, were two doors which were hinged to the wall sides, they opened from the middle, away from the ramp and into the second floor level — the bowling alley area. Each of these doors was 3 feet wide, 6 feet, 10 inches high and each had a glass panel or window 22½ inches square, the bottom of which was 52% inches above the floor level. When closed these doors were within a few inches of the above mentioned handrails, and there was a level space of 6.05 inches between the bottom of the doors and the beginning of the slope of the ramp. These doors opened to or from the corresponding aisles of the ramp. At the bottom and south end of the ramp there was a small level landing and beyond it a solid wall. There were no printed signs on or by the doors to warn persons about to use the ramp of the conditions beyond the doors.

At the time of the accident plaintiff was wearing shoes with heels that gave her a total height of approximately five feet.

The bar, where soft drinks and beer were sold, and the cafe, where food was sold, were operated together. They opened at 8 o’clock a. m. and remained open until 12 o’clock p. m. on week days and Sundays but remained open on Saturdays until 1 o’clock a. m. Sunday mornings. The public was served food and drinks there.

On Sunday, about March 4, 1951, at 8:00 or 8:30 p. m., plaintiff and her escort, Frank Rapp, and his friend, A1 Page, visited defendant’s premises. They had parked their car a distance away and had walked to the building. In going up they used the ramp and went into the bowling alley area. They sat down at a table, but shortly afterwards plaintiff left and visited for a while with a lady acquaintance at a nearby table. While plaintiff was away Mr. Rapp and Mr. Page were served beer and were joined by R. C. Miller. Upon plaintiff’s return to the table she had a coke. Plaintiff then suggested that they go home but it was decided that they would first go “downstairs.” This was plaintiff’s first visit to the premises, and apparently A1 Page wanted plaintiff and her escort to see the downstairs. The parties remained in the bowling alley area a comparatively short while and then left their table for the purpose of going downstairs. Plaintiff and her escort, Mr. Rapp, proceeded to walk toward the doors and were followed by Mr. Page and Mr. Miller. As they reached the door plaintiff was on Mr. Rapp’s left, they were walking normally and plaintiff said that as Mr. Rapp opened the door she was on his left and close enough to the door that it brushed her dress as it was opened. She further said:

“I was watching him when he opened the door; and when he opened the door I was watching his hand on the knob of the door, and as he opened the I passed through.”

She described her fall as follows:

“Well, as he opened the door, I followed in and, when I put my foot in the first normal step, I lost my balance. I couldn’t gain my balance going down and I was going down so fast; and I was reaching to find something to hold to and I screamed just before I got to the bottom of the landing, I guess, wherever I hit, I don’t remember.”

Plaintiff’s head struck the wall at the foot of the ramp, she was rendered uncon *910 scious and sustained the injuries here complained of.

The parties had used the ramp on their trip up to the bowling alley area and plaintiff said it was steep, that she held to the handrail, that her escort slipped going up and cautioned her that it was slippery. The trip itp was apparently made by using the east aisle and plaintiffs fall was on or down the west aisle. S'he said that as she and her escort approached the doors to go downstairs, she did not look through the glass windows in the doors; that she did not know she was going to use the same ramp going down that she had used coming up, that she expected a level landing as she stepped through the door, and that she expected a stairway.

No warning was given plaintiff as to the way to be used in going down nor was there any suggestion that the parties were going downstairs to visit places passed by plaintiff on her way up from the street.

Architects, engineers and lay witnesses testified relative to the ramp, the doors leading to it and other matters relative to construction. Some said they were in keeping with proper and standard practices and were safe, some said they were not. There was evidence that the maximum grade recommended for pedestrian ramps was 16% per cent. And also that in door-ramp combinations it is considered good practice to have a level landing on the ramp side which landing is at least equal to the width of the doors, because such landing eliminates the element of surprise to a person stepping through the door.

There was evidence that prior to the accident one person fell on the ramp and that this fact was known to one of defendant’s directors. Also the evidence showed that the ramp was used daily and that many people had used it.

In addition to the negligence alleged in her original petition, by trial amendment, plaintiff alleged that defendant’s failure to have a platform or level landing in excess of 6.05 inches at the head of the ramp created a dangerous and unsafe condition; that such failure was negligence and a proximate cause of the accident.

The trial was to a jury. At the conclusion of the evidence defendant made a motion for an instructed verdict which was overruled.

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Bluebook (online)
256 S.W.2d 906, 1953 Tex. App. LEXIS 2297, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/san-antonio-hermann-sons-home-assn-v-harvey-texapp-1953.